Middleman vs Pencil
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Middleman
Ruby static site generator with modern tooling
VS
Pencil
Static site generator library built in Haskell
| Feature | Middleman | Pencil |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Ruby | Haskell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,113 | ★ 5 |
| First released | 2009 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, WordPress | Jekyll |
Why pick each one
Choose Middleman if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Mature project with 7.1k GitHub stars
- Written in Ruby
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Pencil if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in Haskell
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Middleman or Pencil better?
Middleman is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Pencil if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Middleman and Pencil free and open-source?
Yes. Middleman is licensed under MIT and Pencil under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Middleman and Pencil with Docker?
Middleman: check the project docs for container support. Pencil: check the project docs for container support.